quotes about pain

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French by Richard Howard



We could use up two Eternities in learning all that is to be learned about our own world and the thousands of nations that have arisen and flourished and vanished from it. Mathematics alone would occupy me eight million years. ~Mark Twain



He who loves the bristle of bayonets only sees in the glitter what beforehand he feels in his heart. It is avarice and hatred; it is that quivering lip, that cold, hating eye, which built magazines and powder-houses. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson



For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet.... Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long? ~Rebecca Harding Davis



Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. ~Oscar Wilde



A cloudless plain blue sky is like a flowerless garden. ~Terri Guillemets



Translated: rendered from another language and therefore not the original words.



Worthless people blame their karma. ~Burmese Proverb



How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! ~John Muir



Every dog has his day - but the nights are reserved for the cats. ~Author Unknown



The worst club in my bag is my brain. ~Chris Perry



A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain - then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system? ~Robert A. Heinlein



Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. ~J.K. Rowling



All requests for leave of absence on account of grandmother's funeral, sore throat, housecleaning, lame back, turning of the ringer, headaches, brain storm, cousin's wedding, general ailments or other legitimate excuses must be made out and handed to the boss not later than 10 a.m. on the morning of the game. ~Traditional gag notice hung in offices and factories at a time period when all games were played during daylight hours



When life gives you scraps, make something with them. ~Author Unknown



Cats are to dogs what modern people are to the people we used to have. Cats are slimmer, cleaner, more attractive, disloyal, and lazy. It's easy to understand why the cat has eclipsed the dog as modern America's favorite pet. People like pets to possess the same qualities they do. Cats are irresponsible and recognize no authority, yet are completely dependent on others for their material needs. Cats cannot be made to do anything useful. Cats are mean for the fun of it. In fact, cats possess so many of the same qualities as some people (expensive girlfriends, for instance) that it's often hard to tell the people and the cats apart. ~P.J. O'Rourke, Modern Manners



Sit down, and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it. ~Colette, Casual Chance, 1964



Once you have heard the lark, known the swish of feet through hill-top grass and smelt the earth made ready for the seed, you are never again going to be fully happy about the cities and towns that man carries like a crippling weight upon his back. ~Gwyn Thomas



Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of the shadow's speed. ~Howard Nemerov



A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. ~Irina Dunn, 1970, commonly misattributed to Gloria Steinem who had quoted Dunn